The Washington Capitals ended the Boston Bruins' seven-game road winning streak on Saturday, taking a 2-1 victory after a surprise third-period goal from Alexander Semin caught visiting netminder Tim Thomas off guard. "I didn't know Semin was just going to come down and shoot it," Thomas said after Semin stole the puck, moved past two Bruins defenders and ripped a shot over the Boston netminder's glove.
"There's not that many times when a guy has that much time to wind up for a slap shot like that." In other action, Milan Michalek and captain Patrick Marleau scored breakaway goals midway through the third period as the San Jose Sharks edged the Detroit Red Wings 6-5 in a battle between the top two teams in the Western Conference. Corey Perry scored twice and Jonas Hiller stopped all 30 shots he faced as the Anaheim Ducks recorded a 3-0 win over the Minnesota Wild, while Peter Mueller and Mikkel Boedker both scored as the Phoenix Coyotes posted a 4-3 triumph over the Calgary Flames.
Jay Bouwmeester completed a three-goal outburst in the second period with one second remaining in the session as the Florida Panthers hung on to post a 4-3 success over the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Zach Bogosian and Ilya Kovalchuk both netted for the Atlanta Thrashers as they cruised to a comfortable 7-2 win of the Nashville Predators. Martin Havlat scored 83 seconds into overtime to lift the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the St Louis Blues, while the Montreal Canadiens recorded a 5-4 triumph over the Ottawa Senators following a shoot-out.
Mike Ribeiro recorded a goal and an assist in regulation before scoring in the shoot-out, lifting the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. * The National Staff